GMDA Steps Up to Preserve Nilachal Hills

With an aim to preserve the historical significance of the Nilachal Hills and protecting the important architectural structures and monuments, GMDA will soon come up with a comprehensive master plan exclusively for Nilachal Hills and its adjoining areas with provisions of building bylaws.

The GMDA will also team up with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to identify and codify the heritage structures dotting the entire range of Nilachal Hills.

Besides, the plan of promoting the world famous Shaktipeeth Kamakhya as a heritage study circle is also on the cards. GMDA even plans to start a Kamakhya interpretation centre so that people, including the tourists and research scholars visiting the temple can get the requisite information in a proper way.

Moreover, the GMDA will come up with a master plan for the Nilachal Hills and its foothills to check unplanned constructions to avert any future disaster. The Kamakhya master plan, to be eventually merged with the Guwahati master plan, will also target the misuse of some of the pockets of the hill.

The hill, which is largely unexplored from the Pandu side and also towards the riverside, will be properly mapped to assess its carrying capacity in the view of the ever-increasing footfall and expanding residential campuses in a haphazard manner.

GMDA town planner, JS Kakoti, said that from a resource point of view, we need to be certain about how much population this ecosystem can support. The building bylaws drawn with such points in mind will regulate and guide the future course of development.